Lally - NASCAR teleconference, part 2

Continued from part 1
Q:
You mentioned about being respectful of the situation you're stepping
into, five, six weeks before the chase starts. And you're going to be out
there with guys competing for some pretty high prizes. You're not ...

Q:
You mentioned about being respectful of the situation you're stepping
into, five, six weeks before the chase starts. And you're going to be out
there with guys competing for some pretty high prizes. You're not the
traditional first-time NASCAR. Today you're looking at Joey Logano and all
these kids coming up at 18, 19, 17 years old sometimes and making their
debuts. Do you think your experience and your ability of being respectful
of that type of situation is something that makes you attractive to people
to continue this past Watkins Glen?

ANDY LALLY:
I sure would hope so. I think maybe there's a level of
maturity or an ability to speak to sponsors. The job that you do inside the
car and the lap times you do and the results you get is an extremely
important part of this, important part of the marketing. The further you
are up front, the better you're going to do as far as TV ratings.

When you get out of the car, though, and being able to have the experience
and the ability to talk to a large group of people and cater to different
styles and where people are from and be able to relate is a big thing, I
think. And in the past that's been very successful for me and it's helped
maybe open additional doors. Or if you've got two fast guys, it could maybe
help tip the scales in one direction of pleasing people outside of the car
just as much as you're pleasing your crew and team owner with results.

Q:
You obviously enjoyed a great deal of success at Watkins Glen over the
years. And how important is a strong showing Friday night going to be to
turn your season around since you haven't won since winning the Rolex 24 at
Daytona?

ANDY LALLY:
It will be huge. Again, Watkins Glen being my home state, I've
got a lot of family coming up here. The boss certainly wants me to win.
And one of our cars anyway, we're going to have a handful of cars there,
TRG, this weekend. It's always important.

You get a win, you get momentum. And we've just had some really bad luck
this year between little things going wrong, getting run over by other cars
on the track or whatnot. It's just for whatever reason it just hasn't come
altogether. We've had some very good runs and been very fast and had some
podium finishes but we've also had a lot of lows this year. If we can get
it back on track and finish the season outright with a couple of wins and a
bunch of podiums it will be a really positive strong point and strong
finishing point leading into 2009 for both myself and for TRG.

Q:
You elaborated on your desire to drive stock cars and be in NASCAR,
whatnot, how tough is it to be patient to find the right ride and the right
fit for yourself?

ANDY LALLY:
It's extremely tough, because even the wrong fits don't come
along that often. It's not like I'm getting calls left and right from
different teams to do their cars.

A lot of this field right now in trucks and in Busch is sponsor-dependent.
Or if you've got your own backing. And I don't have either one of those
right now. Working hard to try to find sponsors. But it's a tough hill to
climb right now especially in this economy. As far as choosing the right
team to go with when there's opportunities, that is certainly a tough one,
because as a racer you're like, you want to do whatever you can.

But for your career, you've got to sit back and think, okay, is this the
right team? Are they going to have the right car, the right program? Does
the crew gel with you right? Is the drive there? And most of the time that
answer is yes.

So, I mean, I'm chomping at the bit to get any stock car I can. I want to
go racing. I want to get the additional experience. I've got a lot of
experience on mile and a halves and super speedways and short tracks and
whatnot, but I want more. If I can continue the dream, it will be
wonderful. I'd love to expand it one way or another. I'd love to continue
with TRG Motorsports if we can put a proper deal together and make it
worthwhile.

It's certainly a super solid team, and I think as this season goes on and
next year, it's going to be proven to a lot of people if they're given the
right resources and the right opportunity they can put some really, really
strong cars out there. And they've done a great job with David Gilliland
this year and David's done a super job.

They are the supreme underdogs of this deal, and they are the Cinderella
story of Cup this year. They're doing so much with so little, it's amazing
to watch these guys work.

Q:
A lot of my questions were already answered, but Watkins Glen has two
different courses, the short course and the long course. Which one do you
like better?

ANDY LALLY:
Oh, that's a tough one. I think for sure that NASCAR's made
the right decision to run on the short course with the stock cars. They're
heavy and they have a ton of power.

And to really get it through the bus stop in 10, 11, shutting it down and
going into one and what's actually the craziest thing is flying up through
those Ss in a 3500-pound car, it's pretty amazing.

But the long course, the laces and the toe of the boot and the heel are
really made for light, agile cars. And it would probably -- as much as I
think it would be an awesome show, I think it would be a pretty wild show.

So many other tracks get two races a year. I would love to see two races a
year at Watkins Glen, one on the long course and one on the short course.

For me it's fun driving prototypes and GT cars on the long course. I've
raced open wheel cars here, too, on the short course. And that's fun, too,
because it turns into like a road course version of Talladega, because the
draft ends up being so big in the open wheel cars and you're so fast through
these corners that it's a blast.

It would be really tough to pick a favorite. I've had some wins on the
short course that have been great and some wins in the -- we won the six
hours of the Glen twice and those were both times on the long course. So
that's a tough one.

The outer loop is much more fun when you're running the short course as you
continue around through there because you're really carrying the speed
there. And that makes Turn 10 completely different than when you normally
run the long course, too, because you're arriving going like almost 100
miles faster, probably. So they're both a lot of fun.

Q:
With Porsche, is the set up pretty different between the two courses?

ANDY LALLY:
We will run the same shocks and the same springs. We're
essentially setting the car up, springs and shocks, for the bus stop, to
tell you the truth. That's where we're going to get the most amount of
travel. That's where we're hitting the most amount of curve.

Our down force settings will be a little bit different on the Porsche on the
short course as opposed to the long course. That's about it. And we'll
probably gear Turn 1 a little bit differently because we don't have to
compromise with the slow corners that we have with the toe and boot and
heel.

Q:
Where is the 66 car this weekend?

ANDY LALLY:
I just got off the phone with Spencer a little while ago. They
are hustling trying to put something together. Unfortunately, Spencer's
teammate that he started the season with wasn't able to continue, and
there's some potential maybe for him to come back at the end of the season,
but right now Kevin's hustling. It's kind of last minute here. We're
trying to find a teammate for Spencer Pumpelly to run the 66 car. I'm a
little bit out of the loop. I'm sure I'll get a phone call when I get out
of here and hopefully get updated with some good news. But I know Kevin's
hustling trying to find somebody for the car right now. Maybe he'll drive
it again. Who knows.

Q:
Six years ago at the inaugural Barber Motorsports Park event, we talked
about going potentially NASCAR racing. And rather than be frustrated about
how long it's taken, do you feel like the twists and turns and the
experience you've got in your career, particularly a race like New Jersey in
the ARCA car last year has made you better equipped to make this Cup debut
this weekend at Watkins Glen?

ANDY LALLY:
I certainly think anytime you're doing laps in anything, every
year I've ever done, I think I've gained in being wiser and being more
efficient with the time that I spend in the car.

If we rain out and there's only half an hour drive time, I think I can get
my car up -- every year I'm learning. I'm constantly one of those guys that
is usually annoying my engineer, my crew chief with 20 questions every hour
on how does this work, how does this work, I want a better understanding of
everything because it's so important to be strong in that department as a
driver.

It's not just get in and drive the heck out of whatever's under you. You've
got to be able to get in, lay the lap down relatively quickly, and then come
back and give a whole dissertation of every single corner, braking, entry,
middle, exit.

And you've got the -- the more you can relate and the more words and more
detailed you can be talking to your crew chief or talking to your engineer,
the more tools, the more he's going to be able to use and be more detailed
in exactly how to make that car faster.

So I do think it's been a benefit. It's certainly been frustrating. But,
again, I have to go back to say, again, I'm one of the most fortunate guys
in the world. I get to make a living racing cars. Whether it's road
racing, stock car racing, sport cars, GTs, prototypes, late models, I don't
care, legends, monster trucks, top fuel cars, whatever, I'll do it any way I
can do get it and enjoy every single opportunity I get.

So frustrating, a little bit just because I want it so bad. But when I get
it, if we can qualify Friday evening, it will be that much more important
and that much more respected.

Q:
Somewhat of a follow-up, and I was late getting on. I apologize if you
already answered this. But can you explain what went into the decision to
put you in the full season car, the 71, and have David drive the 70? Was it
a race-off at the test session? How did you come about that decision?

ANDY LALLY:
I honestly didn't expect that decision, to tell you the truth.
I would have expected that I would be in the 70. I'm not exactly sure what
was behind it. And to be honest I didn't ask.

I only found out that it was going to be the 71 last week. I thought I was
basically under the assumption that it was going to be the 70. Nobody said
anything to me either way. We weren't even sure -- TRG Motorsports is doing
this on such a small budget. And I don't want to spoil anything, but
they're probably going to announce a little bit of news here real soon for
David that's a positive.

So I'm not sure. I really can't answer that too much. And probably if I
did they might not want me to say it anyway.

Q:
When you tested it, I guess it was VIR, who was quicker between the two of
you? Who was the quicker between the two of you guys there? My thought is
maybe they want to get the best possible point experience for the 71. But
who was quicker at the test session?

ANDY LALLY:
I can't remember exact lap times there. But what I would say
is David was a great help to me. There were things that I've experienced --
I'd been to VIR a whole lot more than David ever had. So there was a huge
advantage with me on knowing that track. And David, obviously, has
thousands and thousands of miles in a Cup car.

So we sat down before the beginning of the day and he gave me what he felt
the new guy should know stepping into a Cup car for the first time, and I
drove with him around the track and pointed out different areas of where the
danger zones are going to be or what might not be really obvious to the eye
as far as lines and what to do and how it goes on there.

So we were both extremely new at different aspects of that test day. So it
was a bonus. For me the COT car wasn't that far off of what I felt in the
ARCA car and in the Nationwide car. So it wasn't a huge learning curve for
me, but it did take a little bit. The additional horsepower is awesome.
But the extra weight, you certainly feel that under braking.

So it was a challenge for both of us. But I think we made -- together we had
-- what I was extremely thrilled at more than anything was our feedback was
almost identical. He would say one thing and I would get in and try it and
I would report back almost the exact same thing. And sometimes we weren't
talking to each other in and out of the car because I'd be watching from a
corner and then I would come in and hop out and he would talk to Slugger as
I was bolting in and Slugger would be thrilled when I came back in I said
pretty much the exact same thing.

So we were really able to advance that car. When they went to Sonoma, the
primary car was great. Again, it's a low budget team so we didn't even have
a back-up car. And David had a wonderful qualifying lap going there. He's
been super strong at Sonoma before. He had just had a little bit of a slide
it chomped him back in the qualifying order a bit. But he'll be a great
teammate for me this weekend, and I look forward to looking up to him and
his experience and learning from him more of what I can apply to the Cup
cars.

Q:
Andy, you got 11 guys going for eight positions in the field. First of
all, have you been keeping up with the weather and what's the weather
prediction, because I'm going to be packing tonight?

ANDY LALLY:
I have been keeping up with the weather. When they released
the entry list last night, I looked at those 11 guys and then I immediately
went to last year's practice times and looked up how they were doing, who
was there and whatnot.

We've got some really go or go-homers there. The weather right now looks
good for Friday. It looks spotty for Saturday and Sunday. But it is -- is
today Tuesday? -- it is early in the week to be guessing what it's going to
be like for this weekend. But I would say low of 55, high of 75 and nice
and sunny on Friday is what I last saw. So it looks like that qualifying
challenge is going to be there and we'll see.

These go or go-homer guys, you've got Fellows. You've got Boris Said.
You've got Simo and Riggs and P.J. and Blaney and Speed and my teammate
Gilliland and Nemechek and myself. I don't know if I missed one or two
there, but they're strong guys and it's going to be definitely a challenge
to do this.

Q:
I always knew you were an excellent driver, but myself excluded, I'm
impressed by this elite group of people that I've got on this call today. I
think that's something that you should be honored by. At Pocono this
weekend there was discussion about the upcoming race and the new NASCAR
restart procedure and added with the, I guess you call it the thrill of the
first turn at Watkins Glen. Could you talk about that a little bit? I
don't know if I would say it was concern, but it was discussed. If you
could talk about that, I would appreciate it.

ANDY LALLY:
I think it will be wild. We saw a lot of really wild racing at
Sonoma going into Turn 1 and 2 there with the same deal there. I think it
will continue at Watkins Glen. Turn 1 is not an easy one to go in too wide
with these cars, and I think for sure it's going to create some excitement.
That's a great thing, though.

The restart procedure in Cup now is actually almost identical to what the
start procedure is in the Rolex Grand-Am series. So I'm extremely familiar
with it. It won't be anything too crazy for me as far as procedure or
remembering the right things to do, not do, not pass before the line, not
pulling out, so forth. I've been going over the rules and doing the best I
can do so I go there and don't make any rookie mistakes. I'm going to try
my best to do that.

I think, though, it's going to be pretty exciting. Watkins Glen has good
years and bad years with few cautions and lots of cautions. So I'm looking
forward to it either way. Either way you look at it, if I make this field
I'll be out there with some of the heros I've been rooting on since I was a
really young kid.

I grew up loving Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon, and a lot of these guys that
are still in the game since I was really young. Posters I had up on my
wall.

Whether we were starting single file or double file, it will still be
something that I will try to keep from being overwhelming and looking around
with a big smile on my face, just being so thankful for the position I'm in.

Q:
How difficult is it to go from the Grand Prix Rolex Series cars to the
Sprint Cup cars and which one do you enjoy driving more?

ANDY LALLY:
If I had my fantasy series, it would be probably stock cars on
road races for 25 events a year and then hitting up the mile and a halves
and the super speedways and short tracks for a handful of those. I really
do enjoy those tracks. My big loves are stock cars on road races.

After that it's the big endurance races, the 24 hours at Daytona is kind of
the biggest event for me. It's the biggest sports car event that I look
forward to every year over any other sports car event in the world. And so
the fact that it's at Daytona, the history of Daytona, coupled with the
exciting races we've had there in the past I've been a fortunate winner of
that race two times. It's been something incredible.

But I get along with these big heavy high horsepowered cars on road courses.
I love them, and I cannot wait for this weekend. It is hands down the most
anticipated race of my career. So I'd have to say the stock cars on road
races for sure.

And before we close I'd like to thank the guys that did call in. I
appreciate all of your questions and concerns and appreciate that you took
the time to come out and talk with me today.